A Map's Revelation
by Dumalise
Summary: What happened before Remus appeared in the shack on that faithful night? Written for my English class, One-shot.


Remus Lupin sat by his desk staring out the office window at the pink sky outside, something he found himself doing quite often these days. His head was resting heavily in his hand; thumb rubbing his temple absentmindedly, trying to soothe the increasingly throbbing headache that was all to familiar at this time of the month. Wolfsbane somewhat helped lessen his "symptoms" before the full moon, but the headaches and tiredness just didn't want to leave him alone, and as annoying as it was that it didn't get all of the effects, he was grateful for it taking the edge off of it. Usually he would have taken the last dose by then, but that night he had yet to go down to the dungeons and supposed that was why he was worse than he'd been for the past nine months.

He sighed and raked a hand through his greying hair before looking down towards the reason why he hadn't made his way down to Severus' office yet. The Marauders' Map was spread out in front of him, little dots and attached banners moving around on it. Most marks were inside the castle, a hardly surprising fact considering the time, but Remus wasn't interested in those. He was interested in the three dots that had entered Hagrid's hut twenty minutes ago. He had been terribly unsurprised when the names _Harry Potter_, _Ronald Weasley_ and _Hermione Granger_ had been moving over the grounds, Harry was much too like his father to let a friend in grief be alone. Still, it annoyed him that the boy would go out after curfew when he had been told how dangerous it could be to sneak around. Again he was reminded of James, who'd always disregarded rules and warnings, and probably would have been proud of his son for doing it.

Torn between annoyance and pride himself, he quickly located the hut and blinked when he found _four _and not three dots moving rapidly away from it. He stared at the fourth name, rubbed his eyes as one would do just after waking up and stared again.

_Peter Pettigrew_

"_No. It's not possible. He's dead. He's dead!"_ Remus thought. But the map was never wrong. Ever. He'd helped make it, and as many mistakes he and his friends had made in their youth, the map hadn't been one of them. The spells on it were watertight, the map _never lied_.

He watched, numb from shock, as Peter's label ran away from the trio, watched as Ron followed him and then how Harry and Hermione ran after both of them. He swore as they approached the Whomping Willow without showing any signs of slowing down. But suddenly Ron's dot was on top Peter's and all of them stopped, making Remus sigh in relief. It was short lived, however. Another dot was moving quickly towards the children and supposed dead man, a dot that made Remus fly up from his chair in shear panic. A dot that belonged to none other than Sirius Black.

Remus felt weak as Black's dot dashed towards Harry's. With a lump in his throat he watched when it got on top of him and Remus silently asked James and Lily for forgiveness for failing to protect their son. But Black's dot continued to move and went towards Ron and Peter instead. All three of them made their way towards the Whomping Willow and Remus finally found himself able to function properly. He grabbed his wand from were it laid on his desk and walked briskly out of his office. His legs wanted to run, but his brain, which had decided it was time to start working, told him it would draw unnecessary attention. As he walked through the castle, he thought over the situation. Why hadn't Black killed Harry when he had the chance? He'd been after the boy for almost a year, and when he finally had him he'd just let him go. And Peter. Where had Peter been for all this time, and why had he been hiding? The only one he had to be afraid of was Black, and he had been in Azkaban for twelve years. Why had he come back when Black was lose? Unless… Unless he had been there the whole time.

Realization hit Remus like a bolt of lightning and he quickened his pace. Something about this whole thing was very, _very _wrong, and he was going to find out what it was.

When he reached the grounds Remus broke off into a run, figuring that no one would see him in the dark, and made a beeline for the livid tree. Levitating a stick to touch the trunk made the willow still and he made his way down the tunnel. Soon he was inside the ruined shack that he'd spent so many transformations of his childhood in. Looking around at the tattered walls, broken furniture and stained floor he tried to figure out where they'd gone, when a high pitched, panicked voice screamed.

"WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE – SIRIUS BLACK – QUICK!" Remus felt the blood drain from his face. Hearing it seemed to make it more real, and for a second he forgot about his previous thoughts. Shaking his head he swiftly made his way up the stairs. He was going to solve this. He was going to find out the truth. He owed it to James and Lily. He owed it to Harry. He owed it to himself.


End file.
